Aug 27, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) gestures in the dugout against the Washington Nationals during the fourth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees will look to bounce back from a night of missed opportunities and mistakes when they visit the Washington Nationals in the finale of their three-game series on Wednesday night.
New York committed a season-high four errors and left eight men on base in a 4-2 loss Tuesday night.
Yankees’ Carlos Rodón (14-8, 4.16 ERA) will face fellow left-hander MacKenzie Gore (7-11, 4.51) in the series finale.
Rodon has alternated between good and not-so-good starts during four outings in August. Most recently, after allowing four runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 17, he bounced back against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 23, pitching six scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory.
Rodon will be making just his second career start against the Nationals. He earned a no-decision last August when he allowed one run and six hits in six innings in a game the Nationals won 2-1.
Gore was stellar last time out, allowing one run in seven innings in a 3-2, 10-inning loss at Atlanta on Friday. He struck out four without issuing a walk and earned a no-decision.
“I think we got ahead of the guys; I think when we fell behind, we came back with aggressive pitching,” Gore said. “I think the stuff was good. [No dar bases por bolas a nadie] “it was important.”
His only career appearance against the Yankees came last August, when he suffered a loss after allowing six runs in four innings in a 9-1 game.
Gore and his fellow Washington starters have been very good of late. On Tuesday night, winning pitcher Patrick Corbin, who came into the game with the highest ERA of any qualified starter in the majors at 5.73, pitched six scoreless innings in his second consecutive quality start.
Over the past seven games, Washington’s starting rotation has posted a 1.60 ERA, limited batters to a .209 batting average and racked up 40 strikeouts against 12 walks. The Nationals are 4-3 in that span.
Andres Chaparro and Jose Tena hit back-to-back homers Tuesday, with Chaparro getting his first in the majors. Dylan Crews, playing in his second major league game, had his first two hits for the Nationals, who won despite going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
New York came in having won five of six games, but failed to capitalize on its opportunities and made too many mistakes on defense, including three errors in the sixth inning, when Washington scored its fourth run.
“We didn’t play clean defensively tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “And on a night when we’re not scoring a lot of runs, we’ve got to be cleaner than that.”
Trailing 4-0, New York had its chances late. The Yankees loaded the bases in the eighth inning with no outs, but Aaron Judge grounded into a double play that drove in a run. In the ninth, Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled and then scored to make it 4-2 with one out. New York got back-to-back singles, but Kyle Finnegan retired DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres to end Juan Soto on the roster.
“We had a couple of opportunities at the end, a couple of swings to maybe get the win and get away,” said Judge, who remains at 51 homers. “We just couldn’t get away with it.”
In the first two games of the series, Judge, Soto and Giancarlo Stanton are a combined 3-for-24. Stanton, who began his career in the NL East with the Miami Marlins, has enjoyed plenty of success at Nationals Park, batting .297 with 22 homers and 47 RBIs in 62 games.
–Field level media
